Electrowinning and electrorefining are often used in hydrometallurgical processing of ore to recover metal, such as copper, silver, platinum group metals, molybdenum, zinc, nickel, cobalt, uranium, rhenium, rare earth metals, combinations thereof, and the like from ore. The recovery of metal from ore often includes exposing the ore to a leaching process (e.g., atmospheric leaching, pressure leaching, agitation leaching, heap leaching, stockpile leaching, thin-layer leaching, vat leaching, or the like) to obtain a pregnant leach solution including desired metal ions, optionally, purifying and concentrating the pregnant leach solution, using, e.g., a solvent extraction process, and then recovering the metal, using, the electrowinning and/or electrorefining process.
A typical electrolytic cell for electrowinning and/or electrorefining includes a tank, an anode assembly, a cathode assembly that is spaced apart from the anode assembly, and an electrolyte solution between an active portion of the anode assembly and an active portion of the cathode assembly and contained within the tank. In the case of electrowinning, metal is recovered from the solution by applying a bias across the cathode assembly and the anode assembly sufficient to cause the metal ions in solution to reduce onto an active area of the cathode assembly. In the case of electrorefining, the anode includes a relatively impure metal, and upon application of a sufficient bias between the anode assembly and the cathode assembly, a portion of the anode dissolves in the electrolyte and refined metal from the anode is deposited onto the active area of the cathode assembly.
FIG. 1 illustrates an anode assembly 100 for use in an electrolytic cell designed to recover metal from solution. Assembly 100 includes a hanger bar 110, conductor bars or rods 120, and active substrates 130. Hanger bar 110 is designed to connect to a power source (not illustrated), and connector bars 120 and active substrates 130 are electrically coupled to hanger bar 110 to provide a desired current and voltage to active surface 130.
Anode assembly 100 may work well for a variety of applications. However, assembly 100 may be susceptible to bending, which may affect an acceptable spacing between assembly 100 and a cathode assembly. In addition, the edges of surfaces 130 may become frayed or bent and thus susceptible to shorting. Accordingly, improved anode assemblies, systems including the assemblies, and methods of using the assemblies and systems are desired.